10 events from LGBT history

Published

17 February 17

This year's event focuses on Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Law, as 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales.

It’s important to remember the events which have taken place to bring us to this point in LGBT rights and history about lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities often isn’t included in our school curriculum.

A lot of campaigning and change has happened over the last half century. We stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us.

So, let’s have a look at 10 significant events from LGBT history and learn more about this community and our movement towards equality!

10 events from LGBT history

1. 1951 – Roberta Cowell is the first known British trans woman to undergo reassignment surgery

Cowell was a racing driver and World War II fighter pilot. She was born in Croydon and studied engineering at University College London (UCL). She underwent a secret procedure in order to get a certificate stating that she was intersex. This enabled her to undergo surgery and get a new birth certificate. In later life, she claimed that being intersex was what ‘justified’ her transition and focused specifically on chromosomes and genetics, an approach which was very much 'of its time' compared to the modern-day discourse around trans and gender identities.

2. 1967 – the Sexual Offences Act decriminalises sex between two men over 21 and ‘in private’

However, this didn’t extend to the Navy, the Armed Forces, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man, where sex between two men remained illegal.

3. 1969 – the ‘Stonewall riots’ take place in the USA

A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations occurred. Members of the LGBT community fought against a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan. As Jamilah King writes:

The bar's patrons clashed with police officers, in a raid that would have otherwise resulted in arrests and public shaming. However, this time the patrons fought back, setting off what we now know as the modern LGBT movement, including the tradition of LGBT Pride marches. Two often-forgotten people who made an impact that night were transgender women of colour: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.

The event triggered the modern LGBT liberation movement in the US and beyond.

Stonewall Inn - the New York City bar that where the Stonewall riots began

4. 1972 – the first Pride march is held in London, attracting around 2000 participants

5. 1982 – Terry Higgins dies of AIDS in St Thomas’ Hospital

His partner Rupert Whittaker, Martyn Butler and friends set up the Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK’s first AIDS charity. A year later, the government banned men who have sex with men from donating blood due to the AIDS crisis.

The Act stated that councils should not "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”, meaning teachers couldn’t speak about same-sex relationships with their students. This included students coming out to their teachers or tackling homophobic bullying.

This prompted Sir Ian McKellen to come out as gay on BBC Radio. He formed Stonewall with Michael Cashman CBE, Lisa Power MBE and others to lobby against Section 28 and other barriers to equality.

9. 1999 – former British National Party member David Copeland bombs the Admiral Duncan, one of Soho’s oldest LGBT bars

The attack killed three and wounded at least 70. Following the attack, a large open air meeting took place in Soho Square and thousands attended. The Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner delivered a speech at the event, marking a turning point in the relationship between the LGBT community and the Metropolitan Police.

The Act gave same-sex couples the same rights as married opposite-sex couples. Years later in 2013, the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act was passed, legalising same-sex marriages. The Gender Recognition Act also passed in 2004, giving trans people full legal recognition in their appropriate gender. Right now, gender options are still limited to ‘male’ and ‘female’, so non-binary and gender-fluid people are not currently recognised under the Act.

Now that’s what we call a whistle-stop tour through a few points of LGBT history!